


Who Saved Who?

by Sohotthateveryonedied



Series: Batfamily Bingo [6]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Character Death, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Flashpoint (DCU), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Protective Bruce Wayne, Sad Tim Drake, Suicide, Timeline Shenanigans, but not really, if tim didn't become robin he would have killed himself send tweet, it doesn't count even though it sorta does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24881638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sohotthateveryonedied/pseuds/Sohotthateveryonedied
Summary: Bruce knows the rules of time travel and he knows them well: don’t alter the past, don’t look up spoilers for the future. Don't poke around where you don't belong. These lessons have been taught time and time again by heroes and villains alike—people who have watched their interference ruin worlds and change lives, sometimes beyond repair. People who have looked into the future and had tragedy stare back.ButtechnicallyBruce isn’t time traveling right now, so he allows himself a little lenience.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne
Series: Batfamily Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792990
Comments: 17
Kudos: 644





	Who Saved Who?

**Author's Note:**

> Damthosefandoms (aka my best friend ever and the greatest person in the whole world) said: "ps you should do tim & bruce for the flashpoint one for the bingo thing. just saying. knock yourself out (please don’t actually I love you too much for that)"
> 
> This story takes place during and after the 2017 storyline, "The Button," in which Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen go to the Flashpoint universe and work with Bruce's dad who is Batman, and also Reverse Flash is there for some reason and uhhhh I don't know what else. Tbh I haven't read the whole thing because I'm lazy but I'm sure I got the gist.
> 
> Enjoy!

Bruce knows the rules of time travel and he knows them well: don’t alter the past, don’t look up spoilers for the future. Don't poke around where you don't belong. These lessons have been taught time and time again by heroes and villains alike—people who have watched their interference ruin worlds and change lives, sometimes beyond repair. People who have looked into the future and had tragedy stare back.   
  
But  _ technically  _ Bruce isn’t time traveling right now, so he allows himself a little lenience.   
  
Thomas’ computer is nowhere near as efficient as the one in Bruce’s own Batcave, but he makes do. And, for the record, Bruce knows full well that this research is pretty much useless and will accomplish nothing. He knows that. But curiosity is his puppet master as he enters the first name.   
  
**_Richard John Grayson._ **   
  
Thomas’ files are flimsy compared to the access Bruce has with his own system, but it’s enough to get a basic rundown:  _ The last surviving member of Haly’s Circus. Disappeared and reemerged shortly after the death of the Flying Graysons as the Court of Owls’ latest Talon. Status: alive. Current whereabouts unknown. _   
  
That makes sense, as much as it sends a piercing ache through Bruce’s chest. No Bruce Wayne to take Dick in after his parents fell, no one to keep him away from the Court. He loathes the Owls for claiming their Gray Son of Gotham in a timeline that is already cursed enough without them dimming the brightest light Bruce has ever known. Shaking it off, he clears out the search and enters a new one.   
  
**_Barbara Gordon._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ Current chief of the Gotham police force. Successor to father Jim Gordon, murdered by the Joker. Status: alive. _   
  
Still a hero, even at the end of the world. Bruce isn't surprised.   
  
**_Jason Peter Todd._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ Convicted thirteen times in the span of seven years for crimes including: theft, grand theft auto, prostitution, assault and battery, manslaughter, and possession of illegal narcotics. Joined the Church of Blood cult for ten months until his death in 2018. Resurrected through unknown means. Currently a priest in Gotham City. Status: alive. _ _   
_ _   
_ Bruce...doesn’t know if this is better or worse than what he was expecting. A priest. Sure things started off rough, but Jason powered through it and wound up _okay._ All these years, Bruce has lain awake at night wondering if Jason would have been better off never meeting Bruce in the first place. And, according to Barry’s Flashpoint, he would have. Bruce almost envies this world for the sole fact that it did what he was never able to: giving Jason a chance at a happy life.   
  
Reminding himself that he can mope and regret all he wants when he’s back in his own timeline, Bruce continues.   
  
**_Cassandra Cain._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ No results. _ _   
_ _   
_ **_Batgirl._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ No results. _ _   
_ _   
_ **_Orphan._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ No results. _ _   
_ _   
_ **_David Cain._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ Assassin. Shot in the head by Batman in 1997. Status: deceased. _   
  
So no Cass, then. No Damian either, for obvious reasons. Bruce can’t help but feel relieved that this world has not touched either of them with its poison.   
  
**_Duke Thomas._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** _ Son of Elaine Thomas and the supervillain known as Gnomon. Current junior at West Robinson High School. Arrested once in 2016 for throwing a brick at an officer during a protest; released after ten hours. Poses no threat and has displayed no metahuman abilities thus far. Status: alive. _ _   
_ _   
_ Bruce prays it stays that way. Let Duke live in peace, go to college, and achieve the future he wants. Let him overcome the odds. Let him stay _happy._   
  
**_Stephanie Brown._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ Daughter of Arthur Brown, the late Cluemaster. Currently attending medical school in Ivy Town. Status: alive. _ _   
_ _   
_ Bruce releases a breath. She’s okay. She’s  _ normal.  _ Just like Duke, Stephanie hasn’t been blemished by the curse of blood and vigilantism like all the others have.    
  
With the exception of Dick, it looks like Bruce’s proteges have found their way eventually. No matter what godforsaken universe they’ve been thrown into, they are still capable of being heroes in their own right. Only one more now. One more and then Bruce can get on with his life, no unanswered questions lingering in his mind as he puts this awful timeline behind him.    
  
**_Timothy Jackson Drake._ ** _   
_ _   
_ _ The only son of wealthy socialites Jack and Janet Drake and heir to Drake Industries. Attended Gotham Academy until 2014. Committed suicide in his bedroom. Status: deceased. _   
  
Bruce’s heart thuds to a stop.   
  
Tim’s  _ dead?  _ Scrambling, Bruce does the math in his head. 2014. That was only a short while after Tim became Robin in his own universe. Correlation or coincidence? Bruce thinks back to Tim during that time—were there any signs that would indicate why he would do such a thing? After all, aside from the war and the fact that this Batman is a darker hero than Bruce’s own style, there is not much that would have affected Tim directly in this universe. Nothing that would change his life so drastically that it would drive him to _suicide._   
  
Bruce pulls up the newspaper that recorded Tim’s death and skims it until he finds the article. Tim Drake was discovered hanging in his room by the housekeeper on July twenty-third, four days after the time of death. His parents were in Portugal at the time and returned to Gotham shortly after receiving the news. They left for a trip to New Zealand a week after the funeral.  
  
He finds dozens of reports in Tim's school file from his counselor and accesses the documents. As much as he wants to look away, Bruce can't stop reading. _Good student. Socially awkward. Underlying signs of depression? Definitely some parental neglect. Unresolved trauma from witnessing the death of two acrobats during early childhood. Impeccable grades. Concerning lack of friends. Extremely depressed._   
  
Bruce has to stop reading. He sits back in his chair, dumbfounded. As much as rationality assures him that  _ his  _ Tim is back in the real world, safe and sound, Bruce can’t stop imagining it. A young Tim Drake, completely alone in the world. No parents to care that he’s gone. No one to love him the way he deserved— _ deserves  _ to be loved. No Bruce Wayne to reassure Tim that he’s proud of him whenever he needs the pick-me-up, no Dick Grayson to be the brother he never had, no Teen Titans to make him feel like he’s  _ worth knowing.  _ He was completely alone, and Bruce wasn’t even alive to tell him that he wasn’t.   
  
Feeling sick, Bruce closes the window on the computer screen. He can’t deal with this. Not now. Not while he’s in an unfamiliar reality with his father in the next room and a war razing this timeline right this second. Bruce can’t process this all now, not while there is still work to do.   
  
Later, then.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
That night, Bruce tiredly peels off his batsuit in the Batcave locker room. His  _ own  _ Bat cave this time. It feels like he’s shedding the remnants of that universe off of himself, wrenching loose from its poison-tipped claws. As spectacular as it was to find a universe in which Bruce’s parents lived the long lives he always wanted them to have, the cost was too high. Everything else was a garbage fire.   
  
Not to mention Tim. Bruce still can’t shake the horror of it, even now. Can’t stop seeing his son’s pale, lifeless body from the coroner’s photos every time he closes his eyes.   
  
Ever since Bruce made Tim his Robin, he’s been nothing short of grateful for his presence. He’s the boy who brought Bruce back from the brink when he was at his lowest. He’s the boy who  _ saved Batman.  _ It was different with all the others. Dick, Jason, Stephanie, Damian—they all  _ needed  _ Robin when they took up the mantle, just like Bruce _needed_ to become Batman. Whether it was to cope with a loss or to find their place in the world, Bruce was more than happy to provide whatever they needed to do that.   
  
But Tim? Tim never needed Robin. Not at first, at least. Tim was simply filling a vacant spot because there was no one else available, and he told Bruce as much. Yes, over time Tim grew to rely on the mask and cape like it was a life raft and he was drowning, but at the beginning? He had no personal stakes in Bruce’s mission. He had no parents to avenge, no mantle to uphold, no real stakes in Bruce's mission. He was just a boy with a camera who wanted to save his hero.   
  
Bruce always imagined that if Tim had never gotten mixed up in this life of bats and birds, he would have graduated high school, gotten his degree, maybe inherited his father’s company. Bruce never considered that he might not have even made it past age fourteen. And by his own hands, no less.   
  
Shaking away the memory, Bruce showers and dresses in some loose sweats. Upstairs, the manor is quiet with the late hour. Dick is in Bludhaven tonight, so Bruce will shoot him a goodnight text before he goes to sleep. Likewise, Jason and his Outlaws are no doubt traipsing somewhere around the globe as far as Bruce can imagine. It’s been a minute since he last checked in, but Bruce doesn’t worry. Jason will call if he needs help.   
  
Bruce runs into Cass when he stops in the kitchen for a bottle of water. She’s sitting on the counter eating an apple and playing a video game on what looks like Damian’s DS that he’s been searching for since Monday.   
  
“You left,” she says in lieu of a greeting.   
  
Bruce uncaps his water and drinks. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Mission with Flash. Everything okay here?”   
  
She shrugs, which he takes as a positive response. Then she tips her head to the side, examining him like he’s an open corpse—like she can see every vein and muscle in his chest and find the story behind it. “Something’s wrong?”   
  
“Just tired. I’m going to get some sleep and let Kate take over patrol tonight. You head to bed soon too, okay?” He knows Cass sees straight through his fib about just being wiped out from the mission, but something in his eyes must tell her that he isn’t in the mood for prodding. So she lets it go with a nod. Bruce presses a kiss to the top of her head as he passes, which grants him a smile.   
  
He pokes his head into Damian’s art room next, which is on the way to the hallway that houses most of the manor’s bedrooms. Including Tim’s.   
  
Damian is at his desk, sketching something in a notebook with one of the charcoal pencils Dick bought him for his last birthday. Bruce can’t see what he’s drawing, but he doesn’t step in further than the doorway. Damian’s art room isn’t to be entered without permission, which Bruce respects without question. Everyone needs a safe zone.   
  
“‘Night, son,” he says.   
  
Damian doesn’t turn, too focused on his sketch. “Goodnight, Father.”   
  
After that it’s a short trek to Tim’s room, and Bruce is no closer to a plan. Does he even need a plan? Probably not, but he _hates_ how over his head he feels. He still doesn’t know what to make of this knowledge of Tim’s dodged suicide, nor does he know if it should even matter now. Was Flashpoint Tim’s fate an outlier, or was it based on existing truths from this world? What would have happened if Bruce had sent Tim home that day and refused to take him on as his Robin? Would he even _care?_   
  
Tim's door is already open, so Bruce stops in the doorway and peeks in. Tim is sitting in a beanbag chair with his eyes closed, listening to rock music through bulky headphones which Bruce can already hear from here. He's bobbing his head along to the beat, utterly relaxed. His eyes open when Bruce knocks faintly on the doorway. He pulls the headphones down around his neck.   
  
“Hey, B. How did the thing with Flash go?”   
  
Bruce leans on the door frame and shrugs. “Neither of us ended up permanently damaged, so I’m taking that as a win.” Bruce will work with Barry on the Thawne nonsense later. Right now, he’s more than okay with giving himself tonight to avoid all of it—his father, Thawne, the button, the mystery still at hand. That can all wait for another time when he's ready to unpack it. And Bruce especially won't burden his _family_ with any of it until or unless he has to. “It’s nothing we need to worry about right now.”   
  
Tim doesn’t pry further like Bruce expects him to. “Okay.” He touches his headphones, clearly ready to end the conversation and go back to his music, but Bruce doesn’t leave. He’s too busy studying the planes of his son’s face, noting how much he’s grown over the years, wondering when was the last time he had a haircut. He looks _happy._ So happy and at peace that it makes Bruce's chest hurt. “Did you...need something?”   
  
“What do you think would have happened if you hadn’t become Robin?” The question surprises Bruce as much as it does Tim. He didn't even know he was going to ask it until the words were already coming out of his mouth.   
  
Tim blinks. "I...haven’t really thought about it.” That’s a lie. Tim thinks about everything. “I guess I would have stayed a regular kid, became a businessman or a college professor or something.” More lies.    
  
“Are you glad that you did it?” Bruce doesn’t know what answer he’s expecting, let alone what he wants.   
  
Tim smiles. “Every day.” And Bruce knows it’s the truth.   
  
“Good. I am too.” He doesn’t know what he’d be without Tim. Without any of them, really. A world in which Bruce’s family is even a _fraction_ incomplete is a world he’d like to tear to shreds and watch burn, just like Flashpoint. “I don’t know what I would do without you in my life.”   
  
Tim’s eyes are warm, but concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”   
  
“I’m fine.” Bruce honestly has no idea if that's remotely true, but it's the simplest answer he can give. “I’m clocking out for the night, actually. Don’t play your music too loud, okay? You'll ruin your ears.”   
  
Tim rolls his eyes. “Sure, Dad. ‘Night.” He pulls his headphones back on and settles into the beanbag.   
  
“Goodnight, kiddo.” Bruce pulls the door shut behind him, just to make sure that Tim won’t see him when the mask breaks. It's been a long day and Bruce doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to forget about that Flashpoint universe. Doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to stop picturing Dick in a Talon uniform, Jason living a life Bruce never had the chance to destroy, Tim's corpse hanging from his bedroom.   
  
And maybe that’s a good thing, never forgetting it. Because now Bruce knows _exactly_ what he has to lose and how grateful he should be to have it. To have all of them. That other version of Tim Drake was a boy who grew up alone, unloved, unwanted. But this one? This one has a  _ family.  _ He’s loved. He’s wanted. He’s Bruce’s _ son, _ and Bruce wouldn’t trade him for anything in this world or any other one. He will never stop being thankful that he let Tim don the cape and boots all those years ago.   
  
Bruce has always seen Tim Drake as the kid who saved Batman.   
  
But maybe...maybe Batman saved Tim Drake as well.

**Author's Note:**

> (I know in the actual Flashpoint universe Dick became Doctor Fate or whatever but I made him a Talon in my version because I just like it better? I think it's cool and makes a lot of sense idk.)
> 
> [Feel free to mosey on down to my Tumblr!](http://sohotthateveryonedied.tumblr.com/)


End file.
